IC History pages

History
of the International Canoe: 1900-1950

The
winter of 1899/1900 saw the presentation of a Challenge Cup for cruisers
by Roger de Quincey, known as the Quincey Cup. 1901 saw the presentation
of the Knowles Challenge Cup and the Murphy-Howard Cup. During the winter
of 1901/1902 the classes had their names changed. The Cruisers became
the Sailing Canoe Class, whilst the racers were incorporated into the
new 16' class and called the Paddleable Sailing Canoe Class.

In 1908 Linton Hope designed new canoes for himself and Bertram de Quincey;
they were called Mayfly and Haze. Haze was the first of the Hope canoes
to show a modem shape with a flattened stern to promote planing. Haze
would plane on a reach with the whole of her fore-body back to the
mast out of the water.
The Great War and its aftermath slowed development of the Canoe. Only Iota
was designed
(by D V Hotchkiss) during the 1920s. She was specifically designed as an
inexpensive canoe in
1923 to try to popularise the sport, and so had a stern hung rudder, and
a dagger board. The numbering system was starting to be used and Iota carried
number one.

Number
20, Ladybird designed and built by R.C. Anderson was the last canoe built
to 'B' class rule and essentially ended that phase of canoe sailing,
although the 'B' class canoes continued to sail on the Thames along with
the International Canoes into the 1970s.

Over
the period from 1930 to about 1950 Uffa Fox was one of the major influences
on Canoe sailing. Indeed without him it is doubtful whether there would
be an International Canoe Class today. He took what was essentially a
club boat and turned it into an international class. He, with others,
set in motion the developments which would lead to the International
Canoe Federation adopting Canoe sailing as a world championship sport.
Uffa Fox, a member of the Humber Yawl Club, and Roger de Quincey, an R.C.C.
member, challenged in 1933 for the New York Canoe Club International Trophy.They
were to have sister boats, which were to conform to both the R.C.C. 'B'
class rule and the American Canoe Association rule. Uffa foresaw that such
a challenge, if successful, could lead to an International Rule. The American
rules at that time required Canoes to have two masts, so Uffa equipped
his boat with a solid wooden fore-stay which fulfilled the requirement.
He and de Quincy cleaned up. They and the American Canoe
Association agreed to incorporate the best of the two existing rules. They
returned home andthe Royal Canoe Club agreed to the new "International Rule".

It was to be some fifteen years before the International Canoe Federation
agreed to adopt the class for world championships. For all other purposes,
however, all the Canoes built after this were to the "International
Rule". The rules remained essentially unchanged up until the one-design hull-shape
rule for International competition was adopted in 1971. The most significant
change had been from a 4 ft to a 5 ft seat extension, which was agreed
in 1948 at the request of the Americans. Rig development continues to this
day.
In continental Europe the first international canoeing organisation was
formed in 1924 which adopted the 10sq.m Canoe sailed in Sweden as the official
International class. All the time the British and Americans went their
own way, there being no contact with Continental sailors until a number
of Swedes came to Hayling Island in 1939 with their 10sq.m B Class Canoes.
The Swedes were decisively beaten by the sliding seat Canoes of the British
but further international co-operation was halted by the outbreak of World
War II.

After
the war the I.C.F. was revived in 1946 and Canoe sailing started again.
In 1949, John Aumonier rigged Wake with a fully battened mainsail (first
designed in 1946). At the time this didn't cause a stir, but later when
Joy Quaife won races, the rig was taken seriously. It took about 6 years
before almost all the canoe fleet had fully battened mains. The highlight
of the year was the appearance of Quest, the hard chine canoe designed
and built by Jack Holt. In 1951 a Canoe Eastwind was designed by Austin
Farrar, and had a seat which was curved, the first such seat but did not include rungs, which came later